Joan was taken to the Royal Preston Hospital after a woman in the store’s CCTV room saw what happened and raised the alarm.

Kind-hearted colleagues from M&S stopped to help her, as did an off duty nurse.

She was kept in for three days.

It was thought she may need a skin graft but plastic surgeons have managed to repair the tear.

Today the mum, who has not been able to return to work, said: “It’s left me very, very jumpy. If I see a dog on walks out, or if I hear a dog barking it makes me jump.

“I’ve had terrible flashbacks.

“ I don’t dislike animals but I do think that dog should be destroyed. If that had been a child it would have been a face it bit.

“I think if a dog is being walked along a main street it should be muzzled. “

Dickinson, 49, of Lancaster Road, Preston, has admitted being in charge of a black cross-breed dog on September 8 which was dangerously out of control.

Police had seen him on CCTV drinking on the Flag Market moments before the incident.

He has a history of domestic violence and theft, hitting the headlines last year when he was jailed for 120 days for sneaking into Blitz nightclub on Great Shaw Street, Preston, and stealing vintage instruments worth £1,400 belonging to band Mobius Loop days before they were due to play their first music festival.

He will be sentenced tomorrow.

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